She is the governor of a state with an $11 billion operating budget, a $1.7 billion capital budget and nearly 29,000 employees; she's got more executive experience than any candidate for president or vice president this year....

[B]eing able to connect with, and inspire, the public is an asset —not a liability....Ronald Reagan, from Eureka College, was a far better leader than Woodrow Wilson, a former president of Princeton.

In the last few days, we've seen Minnesota flip from undecided or toss-up to Obama, and we've also seen New Hampshire with its four electoral votes similarly follow into the Obama camp.

Although Rove does note that it's still early:

Just remember, though, 17 days ago in the electoral college McCain led 227 to 216. Fifteen days ago, on the eve of the news on the bailout, he led 216 to 215. This race is susceptible to rapid changes, and we're likely to see in the remaining four weeks more.

And, speaking of Palin, Rove noted:

[S]tate polls are a lagging indicator. For example, the state polls that we're looking at here have virtually no surveying done after the Palin-Biden debate.

What we may be seeing is people reacting to McCain suspending his campaign, which may have — they've seen as a political gesture, coming back, and not getting something done initially with the failure of the bill to pass the House on — a week ago Monday.

Here's what she may have been thinking, or what she would have said if she had had a speechwriter to help her out:

"Being Governor of Alaska gives you more national security experience than any other governor in the United States. Because, ever since the Cold War began, the Russians send military flights up to do exploratory missions that come very close to -- and indeed even at times invade -- the airspace of the United States, over Alaskan skies. They send bomber flights, or fighter missions, streaking towards the Alaskan/Russian airspace border all the time -- just to test our response rate and readiness. Interceptors have to scramble from Alaskan military bases and rise up to meet this threat, and we have consistently and bravely done so -- even before we became a state. We in Alaska were on the front lines of the Cold War like no other state in America, and we know what it is like to share a border with a country we cannot trust. Now that Putin has resumed this testing of American military resolve, Alaskans continue to proudly patrol the airspace near our border -- to let Putin know that if he rears his head, we will be there to meet him."

Andrew Jackson managed to connect with voters via his background -- which couldn't have been more different than Adams'.

By the time John Quincy was 15, he'd traveled extensively in Europe, mastered several languages, and worked as a translator in the court of Catherine the Great.

Meanwhile, Andrew Jackson had none of those privileges. By 15, he'd been kidnapped and beaten by British soldiers, orphaned, and left to fend for himself on the streets of South Carolina.

Adams was a Harvard-educated diplomat from a prominent New England family. Jackson was a humble war hero from the rural South who'd never learned to spell. He was the first presidential candidate in American history to really sell himself as a man of the people, and the people loved him for it....

And though [Jackson's] lack of education and political experience terrified many Adams supporters, that argument didn't hold water for the throngs who lined up to cast their votes for "Old Hickory." Ever since Jackson's decisive victory, no presidential candidate has dared take a step toward the White House without first holding hands with the common man.

She is the governor of a state with an $11 billion operating budget, a $1.7 billion capital budget and nearly 29,000 employees; she's got more executive experience than any candidate for president or vice president this year....

[B]eing able to connect with, and inspire, the public is an asset —not a liability....Ronald Reagan, from Eureka College, was a far better leader than Woodrow Wilson, a former president of Princeton.

In the last few days, we've seen Minnesota flip from undecided or toss-up to Obama, and we've also seen New Hampshire with its four electoral votes similarly follow into the Obama camp.

Although Rove does note that it's still early:

Just remember, though, 17 days ago in the electoral college McCain led 227 to 216. Fifteen days ago, on the eve of the news on the bailout, he led 216 to 215. This race is susceptible to rapid changes, and we're likely to see in the remaining four weeks more.

And, speaking of Palin, Rove noted:

[S]tate polls are a lagging indicator. For example, the state polls that we're looking at here have virtually no surveying done after the Palin-Biden debate.

What we may be seeing is people reacting to McCain suspending his campaign, which may have — they've seen as a political gesture, coming back, and not getting something done initially with the failure of the bill to pass the House on — a week ago Monday.

Here's what she may have been thinking, or what she would have said if she had had a speechwriter to help her out:

"Being Governor of Alaska gives you more national security experience than any other governor in the United States. Because, ever since the Cold War began, the Russians send military flights up to do exploratory missions that come very close to -- and indeed even at times invade -- the airspace of the United States, over Alaskan skies. They send bomber flights, or fighter missions, streaking towards the Alaskan/Russian airspace border all the time -- just to test our response rate and readiness. Interceptors have to scramble from Alaskan military bases and rise up to meet this threat, and we have consistently and bravely done so -- even before we became a state. We in Alaska were on the front lines of the Cold War like no other state in America, and we know what it is like to share a border with a country we cannot trust. Now that Putin has resumed this testing of American military resolve, Alaskans continue to proudly patrol the airspace near our border -- to let Putin know that if he rears his head, we will be there to meet him."

Andrew Jackson managed to connect with voters via his background -- which couldn't have been more different than Adams'.

By the time John Quincy was 15, he'd traveled extensively in Europe, mastered several languages, and worked as a translator in the court of Catherine the Great.

Meanwhile, Andrew Jackson had none of those privileges. By 15, he'd been kidnapped and beaten by British soldiers, orphaned, and left to fend for himself on the streets of South Carolina.

Adams was a Harvard-educated diplomat from a prominent New England family. Jackson was a humble war hero from the rural South who'd never learned to spell. He was the first presidential candidate in American history to really sell himself as a man of the people, and the people loved him for it....

And though [Jackson's] lack of education and political experience terrified many Adams supporters, that argument didn't hold water for the throngs who lined up to cast their votes for "Old Hickory." Ever since Jackson's decisive victory, no presidential candidate has dared take a step toward the White House without first holding hands with the common man.